International. Scientists have identified a significant reduction in chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) levels that would have led to a reduction of about 20% in the deterioration of the ozone layer.
That comes after the first direct tests obtained on the recovery of the ozone layer, through instruments designed by NASA and that are on board the Aura satellite, according to sources from the US aerospace agency.
"We've been able to clearly see that chlorine from CFCs is shrinking in the ozone hole and ozone loss is slowing down because of it," said Susan Strahan, project manager and NASA atmospheric scientist at Goddard Special Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Last year, NASA reported that the size of the hole in September had been the smallest since 1988, with a maximum extent of 19.6 million square kilometers.
The hole in the ozone layer was detected in 1985, in late winter in the Southern Hemisphere, when the reflection of sunlight involved reactions that included active chemical forms of chlorine and bromine created by humans, and that killed ozone.
It is expected that by 2070 the hole will have recovered the levels of 1980.
30 years ago, the importance of the ozone layer led the international community to sign the Montreal Protocol on Substances Harmful to the Ozone Layer in order to regulate this type of compound.
Source: Infobae.
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